Netflix Slow Loading: Fixes

Netflix is one of the fastest streaming services to watch your favorite movies or TV shows online. But at times, it can also get slow and all messed up. No one likes to have slow streaming of their favorite movies they had been waiting for so long to get released. So, it can be very annoying if Netflix starts to respond slowly or the movies stream with frequent lags and loading screens. Even with the fastest internet connections, it is possible that such issues can occur from the Netflix side as well because of some unknown reasons. But every time, it can’t be considered as the issue, sometimes the issues can be on your end as well.

In this article, we are going to discuss the possible solutions that could fix the Netflix slow connection issue. We will try the most common fixes to the known issues reported by the Netflix users that you could try to fix the problem. You can try most of them in any of your device types such as Computers, Smartphones, Smart-TV, Tablets, Streaming media players, etc. (except few that are exclusive on certain device types.) Without further due here are the possible fixes for the slow Netflix problem.

1. Check your Internet Connection

The first and most important thing you can do to fix any Netflix connection problems is to diagnose your internet connection. A bad internet connection can ruin everything and make you think that the issue is something else. So, before you try anything else, make sure that your connection is normal as it used to be by using any of the speed test websites such as the Speed Test by Ookla, or Netflix’s own Fast.com. Also, make sure that your Ping time is normal which can also affect the streaming on Netflix.

You can also try switching between the DNS servers. You can find the best DNS servers in our previously written article. If you are not already using the fastest DNS servers such as the Google DNS, make sure that you start using it right away. This can be very helpful to fasten your internet connection.

2. Restart your Device

The good old rule. Restart your device. A restart can fix many issues, the connection problems aren’t an exception. Just try restarting your device and start streaming Netflix once again. It is a small chance that this could solve the problem. However, still worth a try. If you are using a computer with devices such as a modem and router, also restart all of them as well as your computer.

3. Connect your Device Directly with the Modem

If you are using an additional router or any other Wifi device in between the connection, try removing them and directly connecting the device to the modem. In very rare situations, such devices can cause troubles. So, removing them from the network and using the modem directly to connect to the internet can be the lucky solution for the slow connection issues.

4. Check your Firewall

Sometimes, in very rare cases, your newly installed or updated Antivirus or Internet security (with Firewall included) program might be causing the issues. The Antivirus solutions such as Kaspersky is known to cause issues with some streaming services (not specifically with Netflix.) So, in case, to try if it does fix the issue, just try disabling your Antivirus for some time and try streaming the movies once again. If it still is slow, you can turn on the Antivirus. If it does fix the issue, you know what to do, probably add an exclusion to Netflix in the Firewall rules.

5. Pause the video for a few Minutes

If Netflix keeps buffering over and over again and resumes the video after a while, it might be because of the slow internet connection or connection with latency issues with the Netflix servers. In this case, just pausing the video for a few minutes and allowing Netflix to load a few seconds of video in advance may fix the problem at least for a while. Until you get the connection issue resolved, this small trick can be a lifesaver to enjoy the movies.

6. Adjust Netflix playback quality settings

Netflix automatically decides the right video quality for you based on your internet connection speed making it super-simple to stream videos without buffering. However, sometimes, with an unstable connection where the speed varies frequently, Netflix may have trouble in keeping up with the right quality for you. In that case, you can configure the playback quality of the movies and series manually to avoid any buffering issues on Netflix. You can do that following the steps given below.

Sign in to Netflix.

Go to your Netflix profile.

Select Account > My Profile > Playback Settings.

Under Data Usage, select your preferred playback profile.

Now save the settings by clicking Save.

7. Try streaming from the Browser

If you are using the app on your smartphone, computer, or TV, try opening Netflix directly using the browser. If it loads fine using the browser, probably the issue is with the app installed. If the problem still exists, you can go back to the app and keep on trying. But it is extremely unlikely that the problem is on the app side because of the frequent updates and quality checks Netflix runs. Anyways, always worth a try to see if it fixes the Netflix connection problems.

If you were still not able to fix the issue with Netflix, you might have to reach out to your ISP to diagnose the issue for you. It is extremely unlikely that the issues from the Netflix side last more than a few minutes. If the problem persists for hours or even days, the best possible solution would be contacting your Internet Service Provider and ask them to fix the issue for you. If it is anything related to your internet connection, they will be able to find and fix it for you. If it is something related to your hardware, which the ISP cannot fix, you will have to reach out to the nearest hardware repair center.